Listen to the Spirit Within

Do you remember your Baptism?

Most of us were probably too young to actually remember it.

But we probably know who baptized us, and where.

That’s part of our family history and part of our Church record.

I was baptized at St John’s in Covington, Ky. — by Msgr Anton Goebel.

An eighty-year-old pastor with a heavy German accent.

He’d also married my parents, and probably my grandparents.

Most likely, we all do remember our Confirmation.

I was confirmed at St Boniface Church.

By Bishop William T. Molloy, the Bishop of Covington.

Our readings today tell of baptisms and confirmations.

We hear of Philip going down to Samaria to preach.

This is not Philip the apostle, this is Philip the newly appointed deacon.

He performs miracles and wins over many new disciples for Jesus.

And he baptizes them.

Word of his great success reaches the apostles in Jerusalem.

So some apostles, the predecessors of the bishops, 

Travel down to Samaria.

Peter and John go and lay their hands on those new Christians.

They call down the Holy Spirit.

They confirm them, in one of the first confirmation ceremonies.

And the Holy Spirit does come.

To dwell among them and within them.

We’re in the midst of our modern-day Confirmation season.

A couple weeks ago Bishop Knestout came here to St Joseph’s

To confirm our candidates.

Last weekend Bishop Bevard traveled all the way from the Virgin Islands— His home diocese—to confirm the candidates at St Peter’s.

I was invited to assist the Bishop, and had a chance to chat with him.

He told me he would be in our diocese for three weeks

And was scheduled for confirmations at 15 different parishes.

Our own auxiliary bishops, Bishops Knestout, Dorsonville and Campbell Are equally busy.

That’s a lot of confirmations.

In his homily, Bishop Bevard talked about things we believe as Catholics.

Things like the special spiritual bonds between us.

Not only among the living, but with our dead.

Spiritual bonds with lost family and friends, 

And also with saints we’ve never met.

The communion of saints.

Our thoughts and prayers for those who have gone on to Heaven.

Or who await Heaven in Purgatory.

And their thoughts and prayers for us.

He said each of us has a special bond with the bishop or priest

Who confirmed us.

And with the priest or deacon who baptized us.

He noted that some of our beliefs are uniquely Catholic.

Like our particularly strong devotion to Mary.

Non-Catholic Christians don’t share that same level of devotion.

He spoke of how Confirmation strengthens our faith, and wisdom,

And courage, so that we can defend and spread those beliefs.

One of his comments made me think back to my own Confirmation.

It was a suggestion about our devotion to Mary.

I must have heard it before, somewhere along the line.

But if I had, I’d forgotten it.

He said: We’ll all be called to judgement one day.

And when you find yourself standing there, remember one thing.

** Keep your mouth shut. **

Let Mary do the talking for you.

Let her be your advocate.

Let her plead your case to her son.

And I thought—That makes great sense; how often have I asked:

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

He told those he was about to confirm that,

As a result of the bond they were about to create,

He’d join them, to support them, at their judgement.

And so would the person who baptized them.

And each would be signaling them—putting his finger to his lips—

Reminding them to stay silent.

The Bishop seemed quite confident he’ll be there.

Coaching at their judgement as part of the Heavenly team.

As one who baptized some of those kids, 

I hope he’s right in his confidence

That I’ll be there coaching too.

What we lack in confidence we can try to make up in hope.

Our hope is one of those gifts we receive at Baptism and Confirmation.

And, as we heard in our readings, it’s a hope we should be eager to share.

A hope we should be ready to explain to anyone who notices and asks.

In our Gospel, Jesus gives assurance to all who keep his commandments.

We will have his Holy Spirit not only bonding with us

But dwelling within us.

That Spirit that comes to us in Baptism and Confirmation.

He promises:  I will not leave you orphans.

You are in me, and I in you.

My Spirit will come to you and remain with you always.

In two weeks, we’ll celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

So this is a good time to reflect on our own relationship with the Spirit.

Have we kept the fervor we felt at our Confirmation?

Are we still growing by exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, Piety, 

And Fear (Awe) of the Lord.

Are we communing and cooperating with that Spirit within us?

Are we sharing Him, or keeping Him locked within?

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Jn 14:15-21   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Where Are You From?

Washington is full of people who are from somewhere else.

So it's not uncommon to find yourself asking or being asked,

Where are you from?

My standard answer would be that I've been in DC for 40 years.

And I'd lived in Cincinnati and Hartford and Boston before that.

If they went on to ask,

But where did you come from originally?

I'd say, Covington, Kentucky.

… And I'd probably be right.

Probably right, because that question usually means:

Where were you born?

Where did you spend your early years?

If I was engaged in a deep philosophical or spiritual discussion

And someone asked,

Where did you come from—originally?

I'd probably seem wiser and more thoughtful

If my answer was more lofty than ... Kentucky.

We're a lot like Nicodemus.

We're usually focused on this earthly, physical, material life we're living.

We're not usually looking beyond that day-to-day life

To the bigger questions and meanings.

Jesus can't seem to pull Nicodemus up

To that higher plane of discussion.

Even with his poetic words: You must be born from above.

The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,

but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;

so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

We're born of the Spirit.
We're like that wind.

Where did we come from?

Where are we going?

Science tells us a lot about where we came from.

Biology shows us that, most directly, we came from a fertilized egg.

And further back, our species evolved from earlier, simpler life forms.

Chemistry and astronomy might take us even further back.

They make a good case that we're originally from stardust.

That takes us all the way back to the beginning, the Big Bang.

At least as the source of our animated, physical, material being.

But where did that Big Bang come from?

And where did our individual, intelligent spirits come from?

Two thousand years ago,

Nicodemus already knew the basic answer to that—from God.

But neither he nor we know the full, detailed specifics.

Only Jesus has the experience and complete knowledge

Of spiritual, heavenly things.

And he wants to share some of that knowledge with us.

He wants us to ponder those bigger questions and meanings.

And as we listen to him and talk with him,

We grow in understanding of the Spirit.

We gain some insight on those big questions.

A better grasp on where we're originally from.

And where we're ultimately going.

Monday, 2nd Week of Easter

Jn 3:1-8   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Passion

Over the years, we’ve become familiar with all the details

Of the Passion.

But every time we hear it, it leaves us with so much to think about.

For example,

One question that struck me again this year was, Why?

Why did Jesus go through this Passion?

He gives one answer in this reading today.

He says he could call on legions of angels to stop it.

But he didn’t, because All this has come to pass

That the writings of the prophets may be fulfilled.

But the prophets didn’t make the plan.

They merely spread the word of God’s plan.

Why did God come up with this plan?

If I was God, I’d have gone a lot easier on myself.

Why did God choose this dramatic, awful suffering?

We might find some answers to that question if we ask another.

Who did God choose to do all this for?

What detail or thought or question jumped out at you today?

Pursue that—see what message God has for you.

We could (and should) spend hours

Thinking about all we’ve heard today.

Praying—meditating, contemplating.

Let’s each make some time during this Holy Week to do that.

And let’s take a minute or two now to get started.

Palm Sunday

MT 26:14-27:66   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Are You Really In There?

When did Jesus become fully confident that he was God?

When he was born? 

When, as a boy, he talked with the elders in the temple?

When he turned water into wine?

When he left the tomb on Easter morning?

Our faith and our Church tell us

That Jesus was true God and true man.

One person, a single individual—but with two natures.

Human and Divine.

With one nature as the Son of God.

God the Son who always was and always will be.

And another nature as a human being with a beginning in time.

Throughout history, and for us today, this is a difficult concept.

Indeed, we can’t even begin to grasp it as truth, except through faith.

There have been heresies—

Some claiming Jesus was man only.

Others saying he was God, taking on only the appearance of a man.

But, we believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.

God from God, Light from Light.

True God from true God.

Consubstantial with the Father.

And also that He came down from Heaven, and by the Holy Spirit

Was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.

It’s not easy to wrap our minds around that.

In the early days, the Church struggled.

Great theologians—Doctors of the Church—Church Councils,

All have struggled to understand this mystery.

Still today, when we think of Jesus in a particular situation,

Like delivering the sermon on the mount,

We have a tendency to think of him as either God or man—not both. 

We might have to remind ourselves

To reconsider the story or the lesson from the other perspective.

Most of the world’s 7 billion people don’t have the truth about Jesus.

They don’t believe that he was God.

Many don’t even know or believe that he existed.

Many others, including the 1.6 billion Muslims,

Believe he was a nearly perfect man, a great prophet—but only a man.

Many of the world’s 2.3 billion Christians have the truth.

But even some nominal Christians deny that he’s fully God.

And others deny that he was fully human.

The old heresies live on.

Today’s Gospel passage is one of those where

Jesus makes a clear claim that he is indeed God.

He says that he existed before Abraham,

Who had already been dead for nearly 2,000 years.

He calls himself I AM, a name reserved for God alone.

He’s confident, but are his claims based on knowledge—on certainty?

Or on great faith in what he has heard the Father telling him?

That dual nature, human and divine in one person, remains a mystery.

Our own human nature presents some mystery too, its own duality.

Humans have always had a dual essence—we’re body and soul. 

When Jesus ascended into Heaven,

He reached back and elevated our human essence.

He made us not just body and soul; but body, soul, and temple of God.

He brought us a step closer to his own dual nature.

He sent his Spirit, the Spirit of God, to dwell within us.

Not giving us a divine nature like his own,

But putting a touch of that Divinity within us.

At our best, we can now rise to being little less than Gods.

The world today needs us to exercise that power of the Spirit.

To spread the love and mercy and truth that that Spirit brings.

Believing in that Spirit, working with that Spirit,

We can help to end the disregard and blatant denial of truth.

Help to end war and hatred and injustice.

We can heal the world.

When will we become fully confident

That we have the powerful Spirit of God dwelling within us?

Tuesday, 5th Week of Lent

Jn 8:51-59   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Living Water

Is the Lord in our midst or not?

Like the Israelites at Meribah,

When we look at the world around us, we might be tempted to wonder.

But in looking, it’s amazing how much good we can overlook.

How we can fail to appreciate all the good around us.

We become accustomed to so much, we feel entitled to so much.

We should be constantly aware and constantly thankful for what we have.

But we’re not, we take it for granted.

Our hearts are so easily hardened.

Our Scripture readings today all touch on water—natural and supernatural.

We all need water.

In just a few days without water, we die.

A third of the world’s people face a daily ordeal

To get safe, clean drinking water.

That’s over 2 billion people.

The other day I saw a video about a device that collects water from the air.

It operates on wind-power and was developed at UC Berkeley.  

It’s a tall plastic pipe, about 10-feet tall, 

With a metal-lined tank at the bottom.

Kind of like a sapling with the burlap-wrapped root ball at the bottom.

And you plant it, like you would plant a tree, but deeper, about 6 feet deep.

Air motion and a little breeze-powered turbine at the top

Push air down the pipe.

And when the air reaches the cool underground chamber

Condensation draws out the moisture and fills the tank.

It has a hose and manual pump to draw the water up from the tank.

A unit costs just $70, 

And can produce up to 11 gallons of clean water every day.

Of course, the people who need them most don’t have $70.

But people with money—like us—can help.

The Peace Corps plans to distribute them 

To areas where they’re badly needed.

They can be “planted” just steps away from a family’s home or hut.

Saving women many hours of labor every day.

Hours of carrying heavy buckets of water for miles.

From wells and pools that are often contaminated.

Maybe saving some of the 18,000 lives now lost each day

From lack of safe drinking water.

When’s the last time we gave thanks

For our abundant, safe, life-sustaining water?

Ours for just a penny a gallon and a twist of the faucet.

Surely the Lord is in our midst today, blessing us with this abundant gift.

Guiding us, and giving us the resources—the technology and the dollars—

To find ample clean, safe, natural water for ourselves.

And guiding us in ways to help others throughout the world.

Just as he was there with Moses at Meribah,

Enabling him to draw water from a rock.

He’s also with us now.

Enabling us to draw water from thin air.

And surely, he’s also with us, 

As he was with the Samaritan woman at the well.

Offering assurance that he is indeed the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior.

And offering living water.

There was natural, physical water to be drawn from Jacob’s well

Just as there had been from the rock at Meribah.

But both of those encounters foreshadowed something even greater.

The living water that Jesus promised.

The supernatural, spiritual water that was to come.

Water that would sustain our spiritual life 

And leave us never thirsting again.

Water that would become in us a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.

And Jesus delivered on his promise.

After his death and resurrection, he left us, to return to the Father.

But he didn’t leave us empty and alone.

He filled us with the living water.

As we heard in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

The love of God has been poured out into our hearts
Through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The living water that Jesus gives, is himself through his Holy Spirit.

The Spirit that now dwells among us and within us.

Clearly the Lord is in our midst today.

At Baptism, we use natural water as a symbol of that spiritual, living water.

It’s that spiritual, living water within that cleanses us,

Gives us spiritual growth and sustains our spiritual life.

Baptism formally marks the beginning 

Of the life of the Holy Spirit within us.

Today, we can dip our fingers into the baptismal font and bless ourselves.

The holy water in the font reminds us of that living water, 

That spiritual water.

We have that symbolism.

But more than that, we have the true living water.

The Spirit dwelling and welling up within us.

Guiding us, calling us.

Urging us to help cure the problems of this world.

To help build the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Is the Lord in our midst or not?

Clearly, he is.

Oh that today we would heed his voice!

3rd Sunday of Lent

Jn 4:5-42   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

We Pledge ...

Old Values:  1917 WWI

We’re just a week into Lent now.

But we've already heard a lot about the three key activities of Lent.

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

A number of our Gospel readings have set out Jesus’ guidance on prayer.

Don’t make a public show of it to draw attention to ourselves.

But go into our rooms and pray in secret.

Clearly, he approves of our praying here in public at Mass—

We’re not doing it to draw attention to ourselves.

But he really does want us to pray in private as well.

Today Jesus adds some further guidance on prayer.

Don't babble like the pagans.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Don't just babble-on with the prayers at Mass.

We should hear the words we say, think about the words we say.

Listen carefully to the words that are said for us and to us.

Take in the full ideas that all those words combine to express.  

And the same is true of our private prayer.

Don't babble-on. 

Don’t just talk.  

Listen.  Listen carefully.

What is God saying to me?

What word is coming forth—specially for me—from the mouth of God?

Last week we heard Jesus elaborate on today’s message.

Don’t worry about what you are to eat or drink or wear.

All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
And all these things will be given you besides.

Given our guidance not to babble-on with our petitions.

Given our assurance that God already knows what we need.

It might seem a little strange that, when asked how we should pray,

Jesus gives us a list of seven petitions to recite.

But when we look closely, 

We see that these are not your typical pagan petitions.

These are finely tailored.

Directly focused on that higher goal Jesus set for us.

Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And so, we do petition our Father.

And, implicit with our petition,

We also pledge our cooperation.

As we pray:

Draw everyone to know You and to reverence Your name.

Transform our world into Your kingdom.

Lead everyone to do Your will.

Give everyone their basic daily needs.

Forgive us, and give us a world where everyone forgives.

Give us the strength we need to avoid temptation.

And be our protection against all evil.

This is what we ask.
This is what we pledge.

As we seek first the Kingdom of God.

Tuesday, First Week of Lent

Mt 6:7-15   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

An Eye For An Eye

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

That sounds kind of fair, kind of just.

Especially in a less organized, less civilized, more brutal world.

One who does wrong should be punished.

That should deter wrongdoing.

One who is injured should have some compensation or retribution.

And so, we find the idea of an eye for an eye in ancient law.

It’s included in Hammurabi’s Code.

One of the world’s oldest written codes of law.

Decreed by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, almost 4,000 years ago in 1750 BC.

An eye for an eye is often cited as justification for the right to revenge.

And it was.

But it was also a limitation on the right to revenge.

If someone knocks out your tooth, you’re entitled to knock out his tooth.

You’re not entitled to chop off his arm, or to kill him.

An eye for an eye is well ingrained in our human instinct.

Revenge was already a long-established concept

Before Hammurabi came along.

About 300 years later, we see another ancient writing—the Book of Leviticus.

With the more merciful, less instinctive, law we heard in our first reading today.

Take no revenge against any of your people.

You are to love your neighbor as yourself.

And finally, 1400 years later, Jesus calls us to even greater love and mercy.

He repeatedly stresses our duty to help the poor and the suffering.

Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, welcome the alien.

In today’s Gospel, he raises the bar another notch.

And we see how hard it can be to be his true follower, a true Christian.

Jesus asks us to go against our natural instincts.

To forego revenge against anyone, not just our own people.

To turn the other cheek.

To love not only our neighbor, but also our enemy.

To give to whoever asks.

We’re called to put mercy above possessions.

Put mercy above revenge.

Put mercy even above justice.

Pretty radical.

Who would do those things?

Well, if we’re true Christians, we would.

Or at least we’d be trying our best.

                                                                                                                              

But many today still live by the old, merciless, eye for an eye instinct.

Despite what Jesus said about it.

Despite their claims to be Christians.

So, we see that there are a lot of fake Christians.

They might call themselves Christians.

They might even think they are true Christians.

But many are not even trying to live up to the standards Jesus set.

The great Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, greatly admired Jesus.

He often quoted the Sermon on the Mount.

He once said—If I’d ever met a true Christian, I would have become one myself.

But I never met one.

(Maybe he was looking for a perfect Christian rather than a true Christian.)

There's a pretty broad spectrum of people calling themselves Christians.

There are the extreme fakes, like that small, offensive Westboro Baptist sect.

People who actively work to spread hate and intolerance.

And explicitly claim to do it in the name of Jesus.

Then there are would-be Christians who actively work against Jesus’ commands.

Maybe intentionally, maybe not recognizing what they’re doing.

They fight against efforts to assist the very people who Jesus said we must help.

The poor, the homeless, the hungry, the vulnerable, the refugee.

The largest group of fake Christians are the more moderate fakes.

They give lip service to Jesus’ commands but make no attempt to follow them.

Finally, there are those who can be considered true Christians.

Christians at various stages of working toward perfection.

Christians sincerely striving to do as Jesus asked.

Christians who cheerfully share their time, talent and treasures to help others.

Who are happy to see their gifts and even their tax dollars go to help those in need.

Christians who recognize that they are indeed temples of the Spirit.

And that the Spirit will help them clear the dauntingly high bar Jesus has set.

Help them to love all their neighbors—including their enemies.

Help them to be merciful as our Father is merciful.

...

Lent begins just 10 days from now, with its fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

Rather than waiting till the last minute to decide what to do this year,

We can decide on one thing now, and even get a head start.

In our prayer, we can include a deep assessment of where we are on that Christian  spectrum.

We can open that conversation with God today.

Tune in and listen for his voice, that voice of the Spirit within us.

Discern what our next steps should be.

Ask, What can I do to grow further as a more genuine, merciful, true Christian?

Ask, What can I do to help transform this world into the Kingdom of God?

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mt 5:38-48   Read this Scripture @usccb.org